A-J Remembers: The lady on 82nd Street is the talk of barbershops

The lady barber on 82nd Street remembers she wasn’t at all interested in cutting hair as a career after she graduated from Coronado High School in 1978.

But after a year, her father-in-law at the time gave her advice along with a startling prediction:

"You need to go to barber college," he had said. "One day, women are going to come in and sweep that away from men."

Gail Stanford didn’t even pause before replying to such an absurdity.

"I said, ‘Forgive me, but that’s for old men — why on earth would I want to do that?’"

"Just watch," he said.

She did watch — and enrolled in Lubbock Barber College.

"I won’t ever forget going over to Continental Barbershop at 34th and Slide (streets), and asking that guy if he needed a barber.

"He just looked at me and said, ‘Can you really cut hair?’

"I said, ‘You’ve got to hire me and give me a chance.’

"So, it was real, real quick."

She became skilled in every style from flattops to bowl cuts and the judicious trims where there wasn’t enough hair available to worry about mistakes.

After enough years at Continental to be considered a tenured professional, she moved on to what has become a permanent location at 82nd Street and Indiana Avenue.

Eventually, she had the means of buying the business, which is known now as 82nd Street Barber Shop.

Like an ambitions entrepreneur, Stanford expanded the four-chair barbershop to six chairs, and has used every opportunity to perpetuate and grow the business.

"The most important thing in a business is that you’re self-employed. You’ve got to make business cards, and you’ve got to hand them out everywhere you go. I still do that after 38 years of cutting hair. I hand out business cards every single day — to the kid that carries out my groceries, to the waiter at the restaurant, anybody at all."

She gives incentives for those who may want to check into her business. "When I hand out a busines card, I always give that person an incentive to come in. I put half price on the card, or sometimes even a free haircut, to get that person in the door.

"If you ever get them in the door and make a customer out of them, that half-price haircut or free haircut was well worth your investment."

She said, "After the haircut, I tell them that I have five other people working in here, and feel free to go to one of them. I just want to get them in the door, and I don’t care who cuts their hair, I just want everyone in here to do well."

She admits, "I do have more business because I’ve been here 30 years, and I’ve stood behind that chair and worked my share."

Stanford tells her fellow barbers that she would like to keep the six chairs filled all the time. "I tell everybody that if I can fill that chair, I’m going to fill it, no matter what. Because you never know in life what is going to happen. In a split second, in the blink of an eye, your life can change."

Speaking reflectively, she said, "I look at life a little different these days, and I do try to take a little time to myself when I can, and if I can, because you need to do that. You do have to take some time for yourself."

She believes the 82nd Street and Indiana Avenue location will always be a good one. "The first day I walked into this store, there was never a slow day. We were busy, busy every day all day long, and there were just four of us at the time."

When there is a slow day, she advises the other barbers to be patient. "You just stay behind your chair and be patient, and don’t ever give up — just work through the day."

She has no plans to retire. "I love what I’m doing, and I love being around people. I say that if I win the lottery, I would still come down to work."

As Stanford approaches the 40-year mark as a barber, her attitude toward the career is different from what it was during that first conversation after high school. It can now be summed up in a single question:

"Why would I want to do anything else?"

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